Murphy's Law / Finagle's corollary : "If you throw a slice of toast with butter into the air, it will always fall with the buttered side down"

612 East @ Indiranagar, Bengaluru

612 East is the kind of restobar that you’d want to take your closest friends to. Created with a simple rule; to keep things simple, because there is beauty in simplicity. They’ve drawn inspiration from Elements of Nature; Water, Fire, Earth & Air and made this place as warm and cosy as possible to truly make you feel at home.

If you’re drawn to fancy cocktails, this is just the place for you! They’ve taken mixology to a whole new level with their barman displaying some serious bartending skills backing up with crazy good cocktails.

The menu is a work of art, categorized neatly by the elements of nature. This is owned by none other than the most famous RJ & DJ in Bangalore; Rohit Barker and his friend Shylesh Jain. Music is in Rohit’s veins, so there are no second thoughts about the quality of music being played at 612 East.

612 East is spread across 3 floors, each with a different theme. The terrace is the best place to grab a table as the view is just spectacular!

Cocktails

When you do take a look at the menu, you’d be happy to know that they’ve retained some of the classic cocktails that we’re so used to and named it ‘Down to Earth’.

Bubble Bath

The Bubble Bath was the most fascinating drink in my opinion, if you happen to take a look at the way it’s made. By adding a touch of Molecular Gastronomy, bubbles are added to the top of the drink made with orange vodka, triple sec, cran juice & lime.

This is their take on the Cosmo. I’d definitely go back for this one!

Mystic Candy

Mystic Candy is yet another cocktail that will make you go back in time and feel like a kid again 🙂 . Watching a huge cotton candy in a glass melt when a concoction of rum, bitters, lime & mint is being poured over it, is worthy of an Instagram boomerang! This was sweet and very easy to gulp down.

Jager Lager

The way they make the Jager Lager will forever remain a secret to me. With an inverted shot glass of Jagermeister submerged in a glass of lager beer, it’s a different way of letting the two drinks talk to each other.

Appetizers

Sesame Tennessee Strips

We started with this fabulous chicken dish that was crispy on top owing to the usage of bread and tender on the inside. This dish comes from the Fri’d section on the menu. The Tennessee sauce as they say is made with a bit of whisky and that’s what differentiates this sauce from the rest.

Tadka Onion Rings

This one is also from the Fri’d section on the menu. Oh, how we love fried food! Off late, Onion rings are my favorite vegetarian bar grub. I love it when I get some real crispy ones and the one served up here is just that! Served along side a tomato relish, it’s very much different from what everyone else serves it with – Mayo, which is a very welcome change.

Kurkuri Bhindi

Crispy fried Okra served up on a bed of poppadom, tossed along with onion, coriander leaves, pomegranate and I believe some cucumber. The dates and tamarind relish to go with this makes the dish very well balanced. This is from the Fri’d section on the menu.

Chutney Wala Paneer Tikka

Cottage cheese marinated in a green chutney and grilled in a tandoor. This is from the Tandoor’d section. The Paneer was super soft but I felt the dish was a bit bitter to taste and I would have expected it to have some sweetness to it. The coriander, mint chutney does a good job at making this edible, but I prefer having a paneer tikka without any chutney.

Twice Cooked Pork Belly

This was a delicious dish that I found very high on fat side, but like I said, we love fatty food that makes us happy 🙂 . This dish however is from the Grille’d section of the menu. The slow cooked pork belly tossed in hoisin sauce was a big hit amongst us!

Vietnamese Grilled Vegetable Skewers

Mixed winter veggies marinated in yellow chilly powder, cream & nuts served with garlic peanut butter sauce. This again comes from the Grille’d section of the menu.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

I saved the best for the last! This is by far my most favorite dish at 612 East. Succulent grilled chicken breast wrapped by thin and juicy, smoky bacon strips is truly a meat lovers dream come true! This comes from the Smoke’d section on the menu.

Mains

Pork Vindaloo Pot Pie

We ordered this dish with high expectations and were frankly disappointed. We expected a sinful, fulfilling dish that we could call soul food, but this was far from it. The braised pork belly in vindaloo sauce covered by a flaky puff pastry crust looks absolutely gorgeous but I believe this needs a lot of work. We would expect it to be meatier and easy on the flavors.

Burgers

All burgers come with the option of choosing the color of the burger bun, which come in classic, yellow, red, green and black. We tried an Applewood smoked chicken burger with a green bun and some of my friends tried the beef burger in the classic buns.

I felt that the bun was soft and the chicken patty quite good in flavor profile. Served with fries, coleslaw, pickled onions, gherkins and tomato relish, I think I’d still ask for a mayo dip 🙂

Dueling Pizzas

Fillings of duel pizza of our choice. We picked the Grilled Vegetable and Hummus and Oakwood Smoked BBQ chicken pizzas. The size of pizza is pretty good for 3 people after you’ve had a couple of appetizers. Thin crust, generous toppings and cheese, it’s something that will put your hunger pangs to rest.

You could also pick an Indian curry with Roti/Rice if you’re not interested in the pizzas and the burgers.

Desserts

There were 2 winners here; Pink Praline with Banana Mousse & Moist Brownie with Espresso Mousse. The Pink Praline is just out of this world and you shouldn’t miss this one.

The deconstructed Key lime Pie as well as the Smoked Cheesecake didn’t do much for me while some of my friends devoured the Cinnamon Churros topped with chocolate sauce.

A meal for two will set you back by about 1400 bucks, which isn’t such a bad thing at an upscale restobar on High street Indiranagar. The service was excellent when we started early, but during prime time, it was a little slow.